


Common Ground

by thiswildheart



Series: Where you go, I go too [3]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Force-Sensitive Din Djarin, M/M, Minor Violence, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29724954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thiswildheart/pseuds/thiswildheart
Summary: If Din could just have told him exactly who they were heading to Tatooine to get information from, the whole mess could have been avoided - as Luke intends to remind him for the foreseeable future.Communication. It's something they're going to have to work on.
Relationships: Din Djarin & Boba Fett, Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker
Series: Where you go, I go too [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2173170
Comments: 16
Kudos: 189





	Common Ground

**Author's Note:**

> Because let's be honest, Din is not a man of many words. And besides, he's managed to live this long in the galaxy avoiding knowledge of all the main events of Star Wars - why would it occur to him that Luke might know any of his friends?
> 
> This is part 3 of a series but can be read alone because I'm really just bouncing wildly from idea to idea. It's pretty slow burn but they're coming together as they work through their issues.
> 
> I don't think I've ever written this much fic this fast, but 2021 is nothing if not the year of creative coping mechanisms. Thank you for reading and for all the lovely feedback, it is so appreciated <3

A couple of months into Grogu's training, Luke feels like he's beginning to get the hang of interacting with his new padawan's father. Sort of.

He learned almost immediately from Grogu that seeing Din without his helmet was going to be the aberration, not the norm; well, he respects that, and he can work with it. The lack of facial expressions does make a startling difference to how easy communication is; his interactions with Vader hardly provided practice, since they were brief, emotionally fraught and always happening alongside the risk of immediate and violent death. He has the Force to lean on as a replacement, of course, but Din continues to be utterly unaware of his own Force-sensitivity in a way that is beginning to seem wilful (which is an issue Luke is meditating on how to deal with, and will possibly continue to put off until the heat death of the universe). As such he doesn't broadcast much, and what Luke can sense from him is often clouded. It's hard to say why, but he's beginning to suspect it's more a symptom of Din not knowing what he actually wants than anything else.

Luke is therefore reliant on Din's sparse interest in conversation, and learning to read his body language. They haven't talked a great deal, or at least about any subject other than Grogu or the day-to-day minutia of living in the same building. The conversation might be lacking, but it's more conversation than Luke normally has here unless Leia, Han and Chewie are visiting, and it's actually really pleasant.

Luke teaches and grows food, Din hunts and spends a lot of time customising his new ship, and Grogu splits his days between learning and terrorising all the local wildlife under a foot tall. Din has also started helping Luke work on the temple, whether repairs or plans for new spaces. He's dedicated and conscientious about it, spending hours on tasks without seeming to tire. Din and Grogu take meals in another room, of course, but they all tend to come together in the evenings, where Luke settles down with whatever salvaged Jedi text he's currently reading and Grogu pulls his dad - and sometimes Luke - into some kind of game near the warmth of the fireplace.

It's all beginning to build into something. Luke's not sure what it's building into, per se, because it's not quite like any friendship he's had before, but it's there. Perhaps it's not totally comfortable or open yet, but it's familiar. Easy, in a strange way. There's so much of Din that Luke doesn't know, but then there's so much that he does - he knows what Din values most, how kind he is, how much he values right and wrong and how carefully he wields his own strength.

An open dialogue, though, is still something they're yet to achieve. It's getting better, they're definitely upping the shared words quota by the day, but they've only had a few really meaningful conversations. It's refreshing to talk to someone who didn't have any idea who Luke was when they met and who reacts to his accounts of the war with collegial respect rather than awe, but he's also beginning to think he wouldn't mind sharing more with Din. Plus it's the longest he's ever spent around anyone without knowing more about their background, and it's beginning to drive him round the bend.

It's not an actual problem, though, right up until it really, _really_ is, and it's actually quite gratifying that it's not Luke's fault.

Look, it's not often that he gets to entirely absolve himself of responsibility. Life is rarely that clean or easy, Luke knows that more than most. The best of intentions can go awry, mistakes happen, and it's easy to make a situation worse even if you didn't cause it in the first place.

But this? This situation is _entirely_ the fault of Din "Allergic To Communication" Djarin, and given that the literal explosion very nearly happens right in Luke's face he is reserving the right to be as smug as he wants. And to make sure Leia knows that sometimes he's completely innocent when things go unexpectedly and severely wrong.

One of Din's friends has come across a bounty puck for the kid on Nevarro. The image on the puck is different from the one Din originally accepted himself, marking it as a new commission, and the man - Karga - looks worried as he explains over the recorded holo message.

"It's nothing to do with me, Mando, I swear," he says, his holographic face wavering as he looks into the camera them earnestly. "It's not been issued by anyone I know. Cara's checked on Gideon but the New Republic's still got him locked down, so it looks like you've got another problem on your hands. I'm sorry. Give me a call if there's anything we can do."

It's not like the news of a fresh threat is a surprise to either of them, but it is a worry and a profound disappointment. Luke likes the routine they've fallen into, and the intrusion of the outside world is unwelcome. Having Din and Grogu around makes the lonely, echoing temple feel like a home for the first time and Luke doesn't want anything to threaten that.

Luckily - or heartbreakingly, Luke's yet to decide - Din immediately snaps into a battle-ready mindset as the recording ends. "We need to track this down. That's not going to be the only fob. We can't just wait to see if they find us."

If he's expecting protests, he's mistaken. Luke summons his lightsaber. "Where do we start?"

Din, apparently, knows a guy.

Luke is beginning to think Din has a lot more friends than he lets on; alright, Grogu's cute enough to win half the universe over on his own, but from what he's gleaned so far Luke knows it's not only the kid that's earned their loyalty. Certainly the bounty hunter seems to know people worth talking to for any of a wide array of problems that Luke carefully doesn't examine too hard, because he doesn't want to feel obliged to pass any information on to Leia.

They leave in a hurry. Packing supplies and weapons doesn't take long, because Luke's had a lot of experience of packing the essentials quickly while Din reappears from his room with his bag so quickly that Luke suspects he never really unpacked it in the first place. (Luke files this away as something he is damn well going to deal with later, whether Din likes it or not.) Grogu complains a bit as he's settled into the sleeping area on Din's new ship, pushing images of his smaller (but apparently far superior) quarters on the Razor Crest into Luke's mind and grumbling until Din's helmet swivels to look at him. Not a word is spoken but some message is clearly conveyed, because Grogu's ears droop a fraction and he huffs, but plops down to sit in a pile of blankets and contemplate the small silver ball he rarely goes anywhere without.

Luke settles into the passenger seat without protest, reflecting that it's a shame Din probably doesn't even realise what a heroic concession this is, issued to basically no one except Han and that's only because of the stink he kicks up when anyone else tries to fly the Falcon. It's the work of seconds for Din to have them in the air, leaving a low golden sunset behind them as they rise into the stars.

"Where's your contact?" he asks, as Din begins to prepare the system for the jump through hyperspace.

"Tatooine," Din replies distractedly. "He's out of the game, so he might not know anything, but he tends to hear things. I'd call him, but..."

"Not worth the risk of interception," Luke agrees.

"Yeah. And he hardly ever picks up, anyway."

* * *

So look, _maybe_ Luke should have asked more questions. But they were dealing with a situation that was on the cusp of an emergency, and he doesn't think he's ever seen Din this focused. He's even less communicative than usual, working at the controls like he could make the ship speed up just by glaring at it. It isn't exactly the kind of mood that invites conversation, even with the hours of hyperspace travel ahead of them.

Best to leave him to it, Luke reflects, settling back into his chair. They've got a lot of work coming up, and one of the many things Luke learned during the war was to take the opportunity for sleep when he could get it. Din knows this world; he'll get them the lead they need. Nothing's going to stop him protecting the kid.

Luke knows Tatooine himself, anyway, even if there are places he'd rather not revisit. It's as good a place to start as any.

He sleeps.

* * *

It's Din who fails to ask the right questions, anyway. All Luke is doing is trusting the wisdom of a warrior who's survived who knows how many dangers.

It will be a good lesson learned, when it's all said and done.

They land in Mos Eisley. Here Luke meets a woman called Peli who _coos_ over Grogu - which is unsurprising - and is permitted to hold him - which is rather more so. She tries to insist on babysitting, but "where I go, he goes" is the motto now that they've left the temple and Peli begrudgingly relinquishes the child to Din's satchel.

The satchel is a point of consternation. "You seriously keep a child in your bag?"

"Where else would I keep him?" It's barely phrased as a question.

"Where else - he's not a loaf of bread!"

"What's bread got to do with anything?"

It's a very circular conversation. Luke doesn't give up but he does decide to pick his battles and gets onto his borrowed speeder.

"I want these ones back!" Peli yells pointedly, and there's clearly a story there which Luke would demand to hear except that Din, perhaps deliberately, has already sped off into the sand.

A guilty conscience if ever he saw one.

And again, Luke's only fault in all this is that he doesn't press harder for answers. But a bounty hunter no doubt has many friends who don't like to be widely known, so it doesn't strike him as that strange at the time. He has no idea where they're going until he sees a dark shape on the horizon, that manifests into something unsettlingly familiar as they get closer.

He stops his speeder. Din continues for a moment, then brakes, turns sharply, and comes back to join him.

"What's wrong?"

"Din, we need to go back."

"Why?"

"Are you serious?" Luke blinks at him. "This is Jabba's palace. Whoever runs it these days, I can promise you I'm not going to be welcome here. There was a bit of an incident, no one here will remember me well."

He's glad Leia wasn't around to hear that. Calling everything that happened here 'a bit of an incident' was sure to land him in trouble for the next _century_.

"It's under new management," Din says, shrugging. "Trust me, none of Jabba's people are here any more."

"I don't think-"

"My friend runs it. We'll be fine."

It's hard to imagine anyone being particularly fine here, but Luke sighs. "Alright."

Turns out, a Jedi really does have better instincts than a Mandalorian, and he will not be taking discussion on this point.

They're waved inside by a heavily armed group of guards on the massive gate who don't seem surprised by the sight of Din, though they greet him as Mando. There are several allusions to 'the boss', spoken with a gravitas Luke isn't particularly fond of, but he reminds himself that the man walking beside him ought to be King of Mandalore and Luke saw him trip into a frog pond last week, so titles don't necessarily mean much.

Except that when they walk down the steps into the throne room, he has a split second to process the small crowd, the armed woman beside the throne and _the armour on the man sitting in it_ before he's ducking out of the way of blaster fire.

Boba. Kriffing. Fett.

Din's brought them both into the lion's den. This will merit an "I told you so" when he has a chance to catch his breath.

Luke raises a hand to catch the next few bolts with the Force. Next moment, he has his saber ignited and he's a whirl of motion. Fett has damn good instincts to have started shooting so fast, but now others in the room are involved, clearly guards or just those loyal enough to Fett to take a chance fighting a Jedi, but it's nothing Luke hasn't faced before. He doesn't _want_ to kill Fett, let alone the others in the room, not when one of them might yet be Din's friend, but he will if he has to. It's all too easy to think of Han frozen in carbonite, of what Leia had to go through to get him back, and too much of that is Fett's doing.

He's conscious of Din yelling something, of the fact that there's noticeably _not_ a silver beskar clad figure fighting next to him, but Din has the child, it's understandable he might be holding back.

Then he's got no time for thinking anyway, because he has to deflect a small explosive that goes off in the corner of the room instead, hopefully doing only minimal structural damage. Fett is getting closer, blaster firing relentlessly, vibro knife in the other hand, a snarl twisting his scarred face, and Luke moves the saber on instinct, catching blaster bolts without needing to look, raising his saber and reaching out to push Fett back with the Force-

And then he freezes because Din is suddenly between them, a blaster bolt ricocheting off his helmet, lightsaber stopping mere inches from his neck.

Horror at what nearly happened claws at Luke's throat and he doesn't move. Fett has also stopped firing, barks out an instruction that has the rest of the room ceasing fire too, and it leaves a disorientating silence.

Din has no weapon drawn, he's just got his hands extended like he can push their weapons aside. In the quiet broken only by harsh breaths and the humming of Luke's lightsaber, Luke looks past Din to Fett, and finds himself meeting the other man's eyes. In that moment, he feels a lurch of understanding in his stomach, disbelief that churns up and almost makes him laugh.

 _This_ is Din's friend. Din brought him here to get information from Boba Fett, and both Luke and Fett have held their fire rather than risk hurting Din.

Luke has something in common with Boba Fett.

This is really not his day.

"Mando." Fett's voice is tight. "Get out the way. I need to finish this."

"You're not killing him."

"Oh, I promise you I am."

Din still has one hand extended towards Boba, but the one nearest Luke is inching almost imperceptibly slowly towards his holster. It sets off a strange feeling in Luke. Din clearly wants to de-escalate this, doesn't want _anyone_ getting hurt, but he's read the situation and it's _Luke_ he's choosing to defend.

Luke doesn't need the protection. He's _reasonably_ sure of that, at least. Fett didn't harm him before, and Luke is stronger than he was then; and he's faced far worse odds than this many times. He doesn't want to fight, but he's confident he'd make it out if he had to. Din's no fool, and he's seen some of Luke's powers from what happened on the cruiser, but he's standing there as a shield anyway.

It's... It's new. Different from what Luke's used to.

He doesn't like the idea that Din might think he's weak, but instinct tells him that's not what this is.

Normally people don't worry about protecting Luke because they know he can protect himself. This feels more like Din knows that, but wants to do it anyway.

"Can we just - talk," Din says, and the slight hesitation indicates he can't quite believe he's saying it. Luke has already amply ascertained that Mandalorians are more disposed to violent rather than communicative problem solving. "Boba, Luke's with me. We need your help. It's about the kid, he's in danger."

The moment stretches. Something shifts in Fett's face. He doesn't lower his weapon, but there's just this flash of a moment which makes Luke wonder if Fett shot first because he thought Luke was there to kill him.

Luke powers down the lightsaber. He's not helpless without it, as all present are aware, but it's more about the gesture. Plus he was beginning to feel nauseous about the flickering light reflecting so close off Din's armour.

Din relaxes a fraction, but he doesn't lower his arms until Fett steps back, calling off his guards with a flick of his head and lowering his blaster. He doesn't holster it, but this is probably as much of a concession as they're going to get.

There's a very faint noise, barely picked up by the helmet, that might be Din releasing a tense breath.

"The child," Fett says. "He's not been-"

"He's here," Din says, pointing towards the throne.

Because of course he'd not stepped between them while holding his son. The woman Luke had spotted as they arrived was now just in front of Fett's throne, a gun held in one hand while she awkwardly supports Grogu with the other. Now that he has more than a second to take her in, Luke realises he's seen her before - on the deck of the imperial cruiser where he'd first met Din and Grogu.

Seriously, Din has more friends than he admits to.

"Can we talk?" Din says, with a pointed tilt of the head towards the curious gaggle of armed onlookers.

Fett gives an aggrieved sigh, but it's clearly mostly for show because he beckons them out of the throne room and further into the warren of tunnels.

* * *

Considering how the encounter started, the following conversation goes surprisingly well. It turns out that having seen evidence of the Empire's return, Fett and the woman, Fennec, have been occupying some of their time since taking over in the palace with having Fett's people gather intel about any potential imperial activities. It's not apparent to Luke what Fett intends to do with the information, but he shows no compunctions about giving Din names of a couple of bounty hunters he suspects might be doing business directly with the Empire. He even promises to dig into the bounty issue himself, for the sake of the kid.

It's a good lead. If he hadn't been shot at repeatedly, Luke would consider it a very successful day.

That said, he does get shot at a _lot_ , so he probably shouldn't use that as a measure.

Information exchanged, Fett leans back in his chair, arms splayed over the sides in a casually confident way that still positions his hands in easy reach of his weapons, and fixes his stare on Luke.

On balance, Fett was actually less intimidating when he was wearing the helmet. It's not a comforting thought.

Din sighs, but he's got the kid on his lap and doesn't immediately move to intervene again.

Luke's not sure it's actually a good idea to say anything, but he might as well take the opportunity to put in a good word while no one's attempting murder.

"For what it's worth," he says, "Han didn't actually knock you into the pit on purpose. He didn't even know he'd done it until I filled him in later. He was still mostly blind at the time. You know, from all the carbonite."

Din, of course, has no idea what he's talking about (Luke is going to make them exchange life stories when they get home, dammit), but he clearly picks up on the slightly barbed edge to Luke's voice if the way his helmet shoots up is any evidence. His alarm is probably valid, but seriously, _carbonite_. Luke's willing to make peace here, and Din clearly wants them to, but loyalty to Han demands he stick up for his friend.

"It's not easy to appreciate that kind of nuance from the inside of a sarlacc pit," Fett says calmly - which, yeah, that's fair.

"I'm not asking you to be friends," Din chimes in, cautious and a little weary. "But can we all walk away from here without bloodshed?"

Fett shifts his gaze over, reading something in Din's helmet. It's a long moment, but he nods. "For you, my friend."

Din gives a low, respectful nod. "Thank you."

"I make no promises if I see Solo again," Fett adds, standing and crossing his arms. "I still owe him a lot of pain."

There's no reason to think Fett is more likely to hunt Han down now than he has been the last few years, and forewarned is forearmed, so that's not a hill Luke is willing to die on. "You're not the only one to say it," he says solemnly.

He can't see what Din's face is doing, of course, but he can sense his exasperation through the Force with rare clarity. He directs his best serene Jedi Master smile at him, and counts it as a point in his favour when Din looks away first.

* * *

The parting between Din, Fett and Fennec is brief but remarkably warm, with clasped hands and quiet words all round. Grogu doesn't seem to know Fett or Fennec, but he accepts a few pats on the head happily enough. Luke takes his leave of them with a nod, and they part ways in the main room - Fett back to his throne with Fennec, and Luke, Din and Grogu towards the exit.

No one _says_ they're being escorted out, but there's a certain movement of people behind them that's more than a coincidence.

Luke's mostly been careful about his interactions with Din, conscious that the man seemed wary of him for a long time after they met and still seems deliberately reserved in their interactions. He doesn't really know what's behind it, but he's been keeping their interactions light in an effort to make Din feel more at ease.

Now, though, having had someone try to kill him for the first time in a couple of months (possibly a new personal best), Luke feels justified in glowering at the man as they head for the doors.

"You couldn't have taken _two seconds_ to tell me who we were going to see?" he demands; possibly too loudly, because he hears what sounds like laughter coming from somewhere behind them. No doubt Fett will hear about this.

Din doesn't say anything, which is one of his preferred problem solving tactics, but it's not one that works on Luke.

"We could have avoided literally all of this if you'd just mentioned his name once. I'm not saying I expect you to tell me everything, but if we're about to go and talk to someone a _name_ would help in advance. Communication, seriously, it saves lives."

This might be a bit hypocritical, and certainly Leia's said much the same thing to him after he's disappeared one too many times, but that's not something Din needs to know.

"You're one to talk about communication," Din says, which makes Luke very briefly wonder if they accidentally shared thoughts through the Force, before concluding that Din would have probably jumped high enough to hit his helmet on the tunnel wall if they had. "You might have mentioned that you knew Boba."

Luke is so outraged that for a good few seconds all he can do is gape. He's so busy staring at Din's head that he nearly trips over an uneven bit of ground, and only good reflexes save him from a very embarrassing tumble.

"You - are - unbelievable," he splutters indignantly, when the capacity for speech returns to him. "There's a whole _galaxy_ full of people, Din, how exactly was I supposed to know out of billions of people you were taking us to go and visit one who has a lingering desire to murder me on sight?"

"I don't know, the odds seem pretty good on that."

It takes a good ten seconds for Luke to realise _Din just made a joke_. Din just teased him. He wants to keep being pissed, but this is actually kind of outstanding.

"Right," he says, feeling a slow grin start to spread over his face. "Right, just for that, you get to tell Han about all this."

Din tilts his helmet curiously. "Alright," he says, with the innocence of one who has no idea what they're agreeing to.

And at this point, frankly, Luke is starting to feel a lot better about the whole thing. Alright, Boba Fett is still liable to try and murder him in a dark alley should the situation arise. But Din's revealed that he actually has a sense of humour, which bodes at least slightly better for their communication going forward. If nothing else, he now has a really good counterpoint if the guy ever tries to argue that they don't need to share information. And he doesn't have to be the one to explain to Han that Fett's alive and still ever so slightly angry about the whole sarlacc pit thing.

So, alright, not the perfect day, but he's probably net positive on good things over bad.

They got the lead they needed, most importantly, and a promise of Fett's resources to help, which is a lot more than Luke had expected. They're another step closer to making sure Grogu's safe.

On top of that, there's a long hyperspace flight ahead of them - which means a nice long period of time to see how deep this newfound sense of humour runs in his Mandalorian companion.

Yeah, not such a bad day after all.

But it's still not his fault, and he's going to make sure Leia knows it.


End file.
